This Weekend at the Movies: School's Out

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School of Rock, Out of Time, The Station Agent, and Lost in Translation.

By Brian Z.

Two new flicks open in wide release in North American movie theaters this weekend: Denzel Washington and Sanaa Lathanin in Out of Time, and Jack Black and Joan Cusack in The School of Rock. Also, Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation expands wide, and Tom McCarthy's The Station Agent opens in NY and LA.

The Scoop: Dewey Finn (Black) is a rock singer/guitarist who recently got fired from his band. Without a source of income, Dewey decides to pose as his roommate for a subsitute teacher position at a private elementary school. He ends up staying on when he discovers a 9-year-old guitar-playing prodigy and sets out to make a winning group for a battle of the bands contest.

The Review: Steve Head gives The School of Rock 4 out of 5 stars. He says, "You've got your choice of movies this weekend, so, to make it easier I'll offer this: The School of Rock is absolutely the funniest movie to hit theater screens in a good long while. On second thought, I'll take that appraisal a step further. It is the funniest film this year."

The Scoop: Matt Lee Whitlock (Washington) is a respected chief of police in the small town of Banyan Key, Florida. But when he begins investigating a double homicide, everything Matt Lee thought he knew starts to unravel, and he finds himself in a race against time to solve the murders before he himself falls under suspicion. Matt Lee has to stay a few steps ahead of his own police force and everyone he's trusted in order to find out the truth.

The Review: Manohla Dargis of The Los Angeles Times says, "Despite the standard-issue ingredients &#Array; the palm trees, the femme fatale, the dirty money &#Array; there's something about the movie that sets it apart from the usual thriller."

The Scoop: Finbar McBride (Peter Dinklage) is a man who, wanting to be left alone, starts living in an old train depot. Regardless of his desire for solitude, Finbar ends up interacting and eventually befriending two of his neighbors, an artist (Patricia Clarkson) and a hot dog vendor (Bobby Cannavale).

The Review: Jeff Otto gives The Station Agent 4 1/2 out of 5 stars. He says, "It's hard to believe this is actually Writer/Director Tom McCarthy's feature debut. There's not a sloppy moment in the film. He shows maturity in his style that many of the screen's biggest directors still haven't achieved. Go see The Station Agent. It's one the year's best films and I sincerely hope that it is not overlooked."

The Scoop: Expanding to theaters nationwide this weekend, Lost in Translation follows Bob Harris (Murray) and Charlotte (Johansson), two Americans in Tokyo. Bob is a Hollywood movie star in town to shoot a whiskey commercial, and Charlotte is a young woman traveling with her husband (Giovanni Ribisi), a workaholic photographer. During a mutual bout with insomnia, Bob and Charlotte meet in the bar of their luxury hotel. This chance encounter soon becomes a surprising friendship. The pair venture through Tokyo, having often hilarious encounters with its citizens, and ultimately discover a new belief in life's possibilities.

The Review: Scott B. gives the film 4 1/2 out of 5 stars. He says, "Lost in Translation is the type of film that makes the fall moviegoing season such a pleasure &#Array; a work that's small and personal, intelligent and (in the best sense) grown up. And it's another tremendous step forward for Sofia Coppola: She's already way beyond just being 'Francis Ford Coppola's daughter,' and is well on the path to being a major force in modern American cinema."